Well Japan has over twice the debt-to-GDP ratio (the important figure here) as the US, and has done for almost two decades now. The debt isn't one thing, it's m

Well Japan has over twice the debt-to-GDP ratio (the important figure here) as the US, and has done for almost two decades now. The debt isn't one thing, it's millions of bonds being sold all the time, each of which has to be repaid after 1/3/5/10/30 years when it matures. The only reason people wouldn't buy them is if they expected the US economy to collapse within that period and thus be unable to get their money back, and very few people think that is going to happen. The fact that raising the debt ceiling is an annual political hot potato is down to the US's system of government, in parliamentary systems such as most countries have the government has a working majority by definition and can pass their budget without fanfare.